Proposed Sand and Gravel Quarry at Orgreave

Proposed Sand and Gravel Quarry at Orgreave

Published 12 June 2020

Kings Bromley residents will be aware that the Staffordshire County Council Minerals Plan created three and a half years ago designated an ‘area of search’ stretching from Alrewas to Kings Bromley. Quarrying companies could then apply for planning permission to quarry anywhere in this area. This is the first application that has been made since then, although, of course HS2 are proposing to excavate 3 ‘borrow pits’ in the Parish – which they intend to fill in once the extraction has been completed.

Details of the planning application can be found on the County Council website:

https://apps2.staffordshire.gov.uk/scc/cpland/Details.aspx?applicationID=137688

Parishioners wishing to make comments or objections through this site will need to do so by 2^nd July.

Key points of the planning application:-

• There are two proposed buildings one 16m tall and one 12.2m. That is a five and four storey building
• This quarry will be in operation for a minimum of five years
• The first document states that the quarrying will be normal working hours Monday to Friday and Saturday morning, but deep within the documents given as support they want to run the concrete works 24 hours a day 7 days a week on the premise that HS2 may need to work 24/7. It however does not link the request to only when HS2 is on 24/7 so in effect they could do this at any/all the time
• There is no meaningful preplanting or screening, so this will all be in plain sight from most directions
• There will be 170 vehicle movements per day at the peak, including 17 at night between 10pm and 7.30am
• There is no plan to bring any inert material in for the restoration, so we are again left with pools and ponds at the end of this quarry.
• This quarry will clash with the new housing estate in Fradley, the extension of working hours and output at the Tarmac quarry site, the extended site at Barton and HS2
• This planning application is not an HS2 application but a quarry developer who has won a contract to supply concrete to the HS2 site and thinks this is the most profitable place to put its works.

From a Kings Bromley points of view residents may wish to consider the following points when making their comments:

• Given the disruption that will be caused by the HS2 workings, the cumulative detrimental environmental effect created by further workings is unacceptable
• Although the plan envisages 170 trucks travelling east to the A38, we know that diversions off the A38 are frequent and this will cause much HGV traffic through Kings Bromley
• The Manor Park quarry must be restored before this development proceeds. The Staffordshire Minerals Plan states explicity that “previous mineral workings to the east of Alrewas and west of Kings Bromley are subject to restoration works prior to the commencement of development within the area of search”.
• The visual impact of the workings from the A513.